Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1887-02-04

city OF Hangchow, writes correspondent
Of the London Post, I could but be
struck indeed with the c9wfgrt which
prevailed everywhere Ilsa E|fls hepscs
Of China, OF at any rat tlIAI p9gkof
China, were models of NJ fsf.Ii house
should be. l had ,expcctedV n f9 sI|lh 81
and wrelchcdness, and wasN
for what really beheld. EX 1iaF
good gard ming was Of course 0a49H
for, for Chinese gardning is synony HstIs
with everything that is neat and prSsS
ductivc. But the orchards and null
Der trees all beautifully trimmed, with
the brick built and excellent houses half.
hidden away in them, certainly astonish-
ed me. / CHANGED to land fir m my |
housc-boat frequently in order to shoot
woodcock, for it was winter time when l |
passed through the district. TO get these
birds it was necessary to scramble over
the fields and through the mulberry |
orchards Of the district, and |
l was simply amazed to see how
beautifully the groves of trees were
kept. Underneath great quantities of
vegetables were grown, not a foot OF
earth appeared to be wasted, and every
inch was in the most superb order. Had
the whole country been vast garden, it
could not have been better tended and
cared fo There were not hereabouts
any hedges or walls, the fields were
divided from each other by deep dykes,
which served the double purpose of
marking out the land and irrigating or
draining, as the case might be, the
| ad jacent soil The trees, of which
there were myriads, were all planted
with mathematical exactness and in the
greatest order, unlike the trees in many
English orchards, which seem to have
been stuck into the ground with a view
of wasting as much space as possible.
And as for the tops of the trees, they
had all been carefully trimmed to the
same pattern, every lite bough having
been inspected and cut as circumstances
| Glanced to require. / never saw any
thing half SO orderly in any country in
the world, for these " ere no Ornamental
gardens which was going through, but
mulberry orchards, extending over
hundreds of square miles of country
and owned by thousands of
different husbandmen. Inside the
house, again, l was surprised at the
comfort which prevailed. In each one
there were at least two rooms set apart
specially for the silk-worms, and these
were kept scrupuously clean. The
other rooms Of the house were we'll fur
nishcd, comfortable, and warm-in
every case very clean also; and l did not
see in any country house any of the
squalor or misery one sees in many
English, Scotch, and especially Irish
districts.
AT the time when l was in this coun-
try too, there was very general feeling
Of increased contentmcnt springing IN
owing to the opening Of some large silk
winding factories at Shanghai by Ameri-
can and En9bsl firms. Hitherto the
winding of the silk from the cocoons had
been done in most cases by the silk
growers themselves, and the demand for
the silk thus indifTerentIy wound and
the prices paid for it were alike small.
But with the establishment of silk-wjnd.
ing factories filled with steam machinery
at Shanghai it was hoped and ex-
pected by the silk-growcrs that the
price of cocoons would 90 nm
and that consequently silk growing
would improve as an industry. In any
case the entire population seemed to be
prosperous and we'll contented 1t does
not always do to take the dress of anv
Chlnaman as an index to the wealth he
may possess He may have many rea-
sons - among them being
dread of attracting the attention
Ni'AN ht'BANlOuS IlduQdIln--
for not showing more richness of attire
n is absolutely necessary and he may
fer to go about in warm rags than run
u risk OF being squeezed" by the To-
officials, 50 that many a traveller may
stake their intentional poverty of at
for want Of money. had pointed
to me in Canton one day, for ex-
: pie, particularly woe begono look
~ Chinaman going up the street
sHe gentleman who was with me, and
lEso was a resident on the adjacent isl
Td of Shamien, said, "Poor 1 wish
1gas as rich as that Chinaman, Why,
2 If the European houses here are in his
ebt, but if he showed this by his dress
mandarin here would soon borrow a
life Of him."